The Dying Fire
by It Could Be Worse
Summary: Derek lost everything. His family, his friends, maybe even his sanity. He's doing everything he can to stay alive, even if there's not much worth living for. In the beginning it was hard to do the things he had to, but now it's getting easier. That's what scares him... In this world the cost of surviving is high and rising everyday, but just how far can one person go.


**I hope you guys like this. It took me a while to make, and I can't ask you enough, Please Please Please review, and if you do please be honest. If you think It's good, thanks, let me know. If you think it's total crap, let me know what's wrong with it so I can get better. Enjoy!**

"How you doin' back there?" Mike asked caringly.

"Just fine," I told him. I knew he didn't actually care, it was just out of courtesy. Since I'm the kid, I'm stuck in the back seat with all the other junk we brought on this stupid trip, and let me tell you Pontiacs aren't known for they're space. I didn't want to spend half my summer thousand's of miles away from home, but it's not like I ever have a say in whatever the hell's going on.

"Just wait, when we get to Atlanta we'll see the Georgia Aquarium, zoo, and that uh... Martin Luther thing too,"

"And da barerlinas too," Jessica my sister yelled.

"Yup, the ballerinas too honey," Mom said in a soft tone.

"I'm not going to that Swan Lake thing," I protested.

"Don't worry bud, you're gonna stay at the hotel with me," he said. Great staying with my mom's boyfriend again. It wasn't the best alternative, but anything was better than watching people in costumes dance in some fru-fru performance.

"Okay,"

"Derek when we get to the- the hotel will you play with me," I really didn't want to. What I really wanted to do was sleep, the entire time we were there, so I said what any sane guy would when they get asked to play with a very irritating four-year-old.

"Nope,"

"Derek, will you please keep her occupied when we get there," Mom asked kindly. I thought a few seconds.

"Nope," I said again.

"Too bad your going to anyway," Mom declared with a hint of frustration in her voice.

"Jeez this this traffic is slower than a retarded snail," the boyfriend said.

"Honey, you've got to remember this isn't midwest dirt roads, this is the biggest city in Georgia," Mom mused.

"I know," he barked, "I just didn't think it would be this slow, I mean it's not even five o' clock."

"We just have to be patient, a..." She was cut off by a huge explosion a couple miles ahead.

"HOLY SHIT," Mike shouted, "What the hell was that." Then we started to hear screams, Horrible screams coming closer, trying to grow. People started running past us. Their faces showed it was more than someone leaving the stove on.

"Oh my god," Mom said covering her mouth in horror.

"Everyone out now!" Mike yelled undoing his seat belt frantically. I started scrambling for mine, got out, and came around the other side to get my sister, but when I got there Mom was already pushing me out of the way to get to her. We ran with the crowd down the street from who knew what, but I didn't dare look back, I only thought forward to safety with my family. We kept running for what seemed like forever, we slowly fell behind everyone else, but I didn't dare look back. The boyfriend was slowing us down because he was carrying my sister, but I didn't dare look back. The farther back from the crowd we came the louder the screams were, and we started to hear growling too, but not any kind I've ever heard from an animal.

We had to have been running for at least half an hour when something grabbed Mom by the shoulders, swung it's head up, and bit down on her neck, Mike tried to save her, but what could he do with a four-year-old in his arms. I turned back forward thinking it didn't happen she's still here running with us to safety. I couldn't process it all, I could still see that monster with dark blackened eyes and covered in blood, but I didn't dare look back. Then I saw Mike had caught up, and he swerved into an alleyway. I followed him into a restaurant and into the refrigerator with those things still following us. He shut the door and they all slammed into it nothing held back.

It took a minute to catch my breath then the tears came along with the memories. "Oh my god she's dead."

"Shut up, she's not dead," he growled with an evil glare gripping my pain and twisting it into fear, but I was still in shock, for the next... I don't know minutes, seconds, hours, maybe even days I was broken.

"She's dead."

"SHUT UP!" he yelled, grabbing me by the shirt, his glare getting even darker than before.

"She was grabbed by that thing, and she's dead." _Bam_. He punched me straight across the face, and I was lying on the floor dazed with a bloody mouth. At that moment I knew he wasn't as broken as me, he was completely snapped in half. For who knows how long, I was just laying on the floor, not able to think or feel, and barely aware of my surroundings. Mike was just pacing back and forth angrily like a caged animal. I've never seen him this way, and I've never been more afraid of a single person in my life. Cat, my sister, was huddled in the corner just staring off into space, and shaking. If I was like this, and Mike was going through whatever he was going through, I couldn't imagine what it would be like for her. I needed to help her, she was all I had now.

I slowly crawled over to her, picked her up, put her in my lap with my arms around her, and swayed her. We sat and let everything sink in. We sat and let it eat away at our hearts.

**Congratulations! You have now finished the 1st chapter of The Dyeing Fire. I will try to make these chapters into more like episodes, and I will also try to make them as fast as I can while they're still decent. I will also probably be revising previous chapters while I'm doing the new ones in which case I will tell you when and where I did change it in the new chapter, and if you're still reading this congrats over achiever.**


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